About Archaeology

Last Friday was the Day of Archaeology…. Have you ever wondered what archaeologists really get up to? Is it all just digging or is there a lot more to it? The Day of Archaeology project aims to provide a window into the daily lives of archaeologists from all over the world. The project asks people […]

Brian Burke (Galway City Council), Declan Moore (Moore Group) and Jerry O’Sullivan (Galway County Council) attend the unveiling of a new archaeological sign at Terryland. Galway City Council unveiled the sign commemorating the discovery of the skeletal remains adjacent to Terryland Castle which were excavated in 2013 by archaeologists from Moore Group. The remains were uncovered […]

AND A FINAL UPDATE 2nd April: National Geographic Channel Pulls ‘Nazi War Diggers’ Series. UPDATE 31st March: Over the weekend both the New York Times and the Daily Mail have published pieces about this issue. National Geographic Channel have outdone themselves with this clip from what looks to be an appalling ‘Archaeology’ of WW2 show […]

The Osteoarchaeological report on the remains at Dunmore was completed by Camilla Lofqvist. What follows is an abridged version of the introduction section of her report, the sex of the remains and their age profile. In the next post we’ll look at their stature and general health. References will follow in a later post. The […]

Back in our pre-blog days in 2006 and into the beginning of 2007 (perhaps the boomiest of the boom years), we completed our biggest excavation to date at Dunmore, Co. Galway. We haven’t blogged the results until now and we’ll be posting the results over the coming days. First off – an introduction. The excavation […]

Archaeological investigations were carried out by Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services Ltd. at Terryland, near the Dyke Road, Galway in early 2013. The archaeological team led by Billy Quinn excavated 10 individuals buried just below the existing surface. The human remains were discovered following archaeological testing of the site during the construction of a proposed […]

The Day of Archaeology project aims to provide a window into the daily lives of archaeologists from all over the world. The project asks people working, studying or volunteering in the archaeological world to participate with us in a “Day of Archaeology” each year in the summer by recording their day and sharing it through […]

This post is more from a series of posts on the exciting results of excavations carried out by Moore Group at Pairc and Clochair, Oranmore, County Galway between 2008 and 2010. A number of sites were excavated in advance of construction of a new supermarket and associated access and other services. This time – a […]

Via the Galway City Museum facebook page – UPDATE: Archaeological Discoveries at Terryland Castle, Galway (click the photo’s to embiggen…) “Galway City Council is constructing a multi-modular ramp to provide safe access from the Dyke Road to the Quincentennial Bridge. Funding from the National Roads Authority has facilitated this work. A number of archaeological finds have […]

Past Preservers is proud to announce that it is the official media promoter of The Seventh World Archaeological Congress (WAC-7) to be held from January 14th-18th 2013 in Jordan. WAC is an international forum for discussion for anyone who is concerned with the study of the past. WAC holds an international Congress every four years to promote: the exchange of results from […]

This in our inbox from the Galway County Biodiversity Project Manager (www.galwaycountybiodiversity.com). Events for Heritage Week in Galway. ‘You are probably aware that next week is Heritage Week and events are being run throughout the Country to celebrate. Of course Galway’s local heritage organisations have been very busy planning a variety of events around the […]

We’ve reached the end of marking our tenth year in business. And on a high note as we’ve been nominated in 4 categories in the Grafton media Irish Blog Awards. Thanks to whoever nominated us – we’re in the long lists for Best Eco/Green Blog, Best Arts/Culture Blog, Best Blog Of An SME and Best Science/Education Blog. So, […]

Today is the Day of Archaeology on the Interweb. Have you ever wondered what archaeologists really get up to? Is it all just digging or is there a lot more to it? The Day of Archaeology 2012 aims to give a window into the daily lives of archaeologists. There are over 700 archaeologists signed up […]

Continuing our series of old posts (to mark our 10th year in business), ones we feel were good, prescient or elicited some good conversation or debate, this post was first published in January 2009. Posted in response to a controversy about how we treat and curate our dead, initiated by then IT journalist Sarah Carey, […]

All the beer news: We’re delighted to note that Billy and Declan feature in the latest issue of Archaeology Magazine in a piece by Erin Mullally about Fulacht Fiadh and the mystery of their purpose – needless to say, we espouse our beer theory.. Follow the link below… Letter from Ireland: Mystery of the Fulacht […]

Continuing our series of old posts (to mark our 10th year in business), ones we feel were good, prescient or elicited some good conversation or debate, this post was first published in July 2008. Posted at the height of the Tara controversy, it was a bit snarky and did elicit some discussion. We also, in […]

Declan, Billy and Nigel presented at a Seminar on ‘Experimental Archaeology in Northwest Europe: Principles and Potential’ in UCD last week. Our presentation was on the beer experiments and Fulacht Fiadh. Here’s some of Declan’s section of the presentation: Fulachta fiadh are one of the most widespread of Irish field monuments and may number up […]

Experimental Archaeology in Northwest Europe: Principles and Potential Declan, Billy and Nigel will be presenting on Friday in UCD at 2ish as part of a Seminar on Experimental Archaeology. Here’s the outline from UCD: Experimental Archaeology has recently re-emerged as an approach enabling us to think about the past in practical ways, while it also […]

Continuing our series of old posts, ones we feel were good, prescient or elicited some good conversation or debate, this post was first published in January 2008. It was posted in response to a radio piece by self-described ‘neo-luddite’ John Waters and was the first time we touched upon communicating archaeology and the environment. The subject […]

The Day of Archaeology 2011 aimed to give a window into the daily lives of archaeologists and happened on July 29th. With over 400 contributors, it chronicled what they did on one day, from those in the field through to specialists working in laboratories and behind computers. This was our contribution. To see all the contributions see http://www.dayofarchaeology.com/ […]

Today is the first ‘Day of Archaeology’ (www.dayofarchaeology.com), an online archaeology and social media experiment that coincides with the Council for British Archaeology’s Festival of Archaeology. The idea for this project came from a conversation between two PhD students, Matthew Law (Cardiff University) and Lorna Richardson (University College London), and emulates a successful project called ‘A […]

This piece was originally published at the Archaeology Group Blog: Then Dig last month… There’s a somewhat long tirade by way of an introduction to this post on distance, perceptions from afar, and the current state of Ireland so, indulge, or bear with, me while I set the scene! Writing in the Irish Times just […]

Pearse Street, Athlone, Co. Westmeath Archaeological Monitoring 20365 24120 NA 10E430 A programme of archaeological monitoring was carried out in the vicinity of the Revenue Commissioners Building off Pearse Street, Athlone, Co. Westmeath and along Pearse Street. The works involved the installation of a proposed gas main extension along Pearse Street (approx. 77m of 125mm […]

Various, Sligo Town Archaeological Monitoring Various Various 10E285 Archaeological monitoring of engineering slit trenches and test pits in advance of the proposed Sligo town Water Conservation scheme took place around Sligo town and environs between mid October and mid November 2010. Moore Group, in a previous archaeological assessment (March 2010) for the project, had demarcated […]